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THE DIAMOND MYSTERY.

INTERVIEW WITHLEMOINE. ■A PaiuS correspondent ivriting on' April--2 says :— Lemoine, the diamondmaker, is free. Therefore he is able to make' diamonds, is what might be inferred from the action •of the magistrates. It would, however, be very imprudent,to, jump to any hasty conclusion, either one way or the other. M. Lemoine has been released simply . because 'the examination of the French magistrate, has reached its limit. It could not be continued because it met with an insuperable obstacle in, the refuel of the Union of London and Smith's Bank to hand over the envelope containing the secret formufe for making diamonds. The instruction" came to a deadlock at this point, and the French magistrate, rather than keep the prisoner in durance pending interminable negotiations, decided to release him on bail in the sum of The. " instruction" or judicial examination- may, of course, be resumed at any time, that.is to say, as soon as the London bank can be compelled to hand over the mysterious envelope. English legal experts will probably argue that this is impossible, and M. Lemoine on this point, at least, may be perfectly tranquil. '' . - 1 called on M. Lemoine soon after his release, and found him in bed. The dia-mond-maker was the picture of fitness and good-humour, and it needed his own assertion to make one. believe that he was not in the best of health. . One hundred days or more in prison arc, however, liable to work on the nerves of even such a stalwart constitution as his, and it is not Surprising that he took to" bed for a rest immediately after his liberation. At his house in the Rue Pigalle it was, ol cour.se, a great day for all. Madame Lemoine,' an exceedingly handsome woman, was radiant with delight. She had drizen to the Santc prison herself in her splendid 40 horse-power automobile, and brought him back in triumph. His daughter also was jubilant, and now Lemoine says he will be able to show to all the world that he can make diamonds. When I saw Lemoine,' with his big, broad forehead, long, oval face, and bushy hair, sit up in bed, and "shake his hand at the mention of Julius Wernher's. name, I was not surprised that a man of his build could have withstood for hours at a time the wrangling and onslaught of a. succession of lawyers, backed up by a "juge destruction," who, after three months, found the engineer as unshaken and as unshakable as on the first day. M. Lemoine is a powerfully-built man, dark-haired and dark-eyed, and a rather, voluble talker. ' When he mentions that he has the secret of diamond-making he does so in a way that almost compels conviction, and he stated ' that- he was going to show that he could do it as soon as he had taken a rest and made the necessary preparations. According to him, he had been entrapped into being a mere tool for others to cause a rise or fall in diamond shares as suited their speculations. He had been caught once, but would not be caught again. Those who had made use of him should have been content with the advantage they had gained, and it was stupid of them to try to obtain possession of the secret, which he alone, knew, by having him throvsn. into prison. When M. Lemoine touched on this theme he could, as was evident, grow eloquent, but his attentive and affectionate wife was there to warn him not to over-exert, himself. He had talked himself hoarse -in less than half an hour, and one of the reasons why he had taken to bed was because he had a cold.

I asked him about the report of his going to London to have an interview with Sir Julius Wernher, when he laughed at the idea. Such a thought had never come to him. He will have nothing more to do with Sir Julius Wernher except to show him how wrong he was to cause his arrest. If he (Sir Julius) thought that he had been deceived, he should have come to i\l. Lemoine' and told him so .straight to his face, or drop the matter entirely. But to jump suddenly on a man without warning, after ' having trusted •him, and'to cause his arrest, was absurd. This, of course, Sis M.' Lemoine's opinion, and he has a right to. his own view of the case. „ The order for his release was signed this afternoon by M. le Poittevin, and was based on the following considerations : — '."'-*'. . . (1) That the inquiry concerning the case is ended, and no one can make any further opposition. (2) The commission of inquiry sent to London ti> obtain possession of the sealed envelope has been without result, and tho diplomatic negotiations would be so long that it is useless to . keep the accused in prison until they arc ended. • M. Lemoine strongly asserts that if. he were given full opportunity to renew his experiments he would be : able to demonstrate that he can make diamonds.- His provisional release will enable him do try to fulfil his promise. As soon as this order was signed by the magistrate it was taken to the Sante prison, and "at half-past three o'clock M. Lemoine stepped out a free man, and entered the automobile which his wife had kept waiting for him at the prison door and drove him to his home in the Rue Pigallc.

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